A Mother's Sacrifice
by dogfarts888
Summary: TROS Spoilers. Alternative ending to tros. Leia POV.


**Alternative ending to tros, Leia POV. Tooth-rotting fluff alert. Rough in that it's not beta'd.**

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Leia opens her eyes to find herself in a space as bright as starlight.

She feels a peace she has not known in a long time. Gone is the angst, the pain, the suffering.

Generations of all-encompassing, overwhelming love surround her. Warmth threads through the Force, accompanied by soft voices and a sweet, comforting smell.

The smell of home. She is going home.

Leia sits up, taking in the figures who stand around her.

The mother she never knew, Padme, stands next to Luke. The man and woman at her side must be her maternal grandparents, Jobal and Ruwee.

Anakin, the man she could never quite reconcile as her father, stands with a woman behind him. One hand rests on his shoulder. Leia instinctively knows who she is.

Shmi.

Leia twists around to see Bail and Breha tenderly smiling down at her. Her throat grows thick. How is it they are they all here? She has cried her tears, suffered her wounds, walked her hardest paths, and now it is all over.

But someone is missing, and Leia tries to find the words to speak.

"Where is Han?"

Luke steps forward and sits next to his sister.

"You will see him soon, Leia. We all wanted to be here for your final journey."

Ah. So this is a place in-between. She draws Luke in for a hug, her tears soaking his tunic, his beard.

That damn beard.

"And I am so glad you're all here," Leia sniffs, trying and failing to comprehend all of this.

And then she sees him.

Grief causes her heart to sink.

He isn't supposed to be here.

How can she still feel the deep sting of pain in the realm of this beautiful afterlife?

"Mom," Ben speaks the word reverently, his eyes brimming with tears, "Mom, I saved her. There is balance in the galaxy now," he says in a hopeful whisper.

A righteous anger rises in Leia. She is so damn proud of her son, but this is not right.

She cannot accept that her family's story ends in tragedy. As noble and selfless as her son's sacrifice is, she cannot accept that Darth Sidious has succeeded in ending the Skywalker lineage in death and heartbreak.

Leia glances at her grandmother, Shmi, who sacrificed raising her son so that he might have a better life. Her gaze moves to Padme, who sacrificed everything trying to save the man she loved. And Anakin, who wanted nothing more than a family.

Family. This is what it has always been about.

Her eyes finally land back on her son, Ben Solo. Targeted in the womb by Sidious, manipulated and tormented his _entire life _until he met his soulmate.

Rey.

No, Leia will not, she _cannot _stand for Sidious' reach to be this long lasting. He does not have the final word in the story of Skywalker or Solo.

"Send him back," Leia states quietly, tears forming in her brilliant dark eyes. She speaks to no one in particular, she speaks only to the vibration of the Force that hums all around and inside all of them.

"I want my son sent _back,_" she repeats, louder this time.

"Mom," Ben kneels next to her, searching her face, "My life force lives on inside of Rey. She will take comfort in that."

Leia doesn't buy it, and she hears the ache in his tone. She knows what Ben meant to Rey. What they meant to each other.

She stands, finding her body strong and restored of its ailments. She looks at her son, at the man who will always be her baby boy with watery adoration.

She did not contact him across the galaxy for it to end this way. She did not die so that he might meet a premature death. Leia wants her sacrifice honored. She closes her eyes, begging the Force to hear her prayer, her hope. And then she locks eyes with her son.

"I will always love you Ben. And we will be reunited, but not today. Not yet."

"Mom," Ben hugs her, voice weary, "I am so tired. I just want to go home."

Leia squeezes him tightly as they embrace each other. Home can mean so many things.

A deep voice cuts through the silence as Anakin Skywalker strides forward.

"Your mother is right, Ben. It is time for you to live - for Ben Solo to live," Anakin meets Ben's gaze, and behind him, Shmi nods through her own tears. He places a hand on Ben's shoulder.

"Finish what I started Ben. Finish what _we_ started," Anakin says as Padme comes to his side, "Love Rey. Love the family you will create together."

Hope swells inside of Leia. She kisses her son's hair, his face. Her son will live in the free galaxy she fought so hard for.

Leia smiles, taking in Ben one last time. He looks so much like his father in this moment.

"Be with her, Ben. Be with Rey."

"I love you, mom," he says, voice hoarse.

Leia watches as his image fades. The generational trauma in her family stops with Ben. Finally.

"Come," Luke reaches for her gently, "It is time to go. You'll see him, but not for a long time."

"Good," Leia responds firmly, but then she pauses. She asks the question that weighs heavy on her heart.

"Will I at least be able to watch them grow up? My grandchildren?"

Luke grins, and it is all the confirmation she needs.

Surrounded by her family and love, Leia passes on to the other side where her husband awaits her arrival.


End file.
